Goodbye, Breslow (and injury updates)

Craig Breslow was designated for assignment after Sunday's game. The move was unsurprising, necessary and, for me at least, a bit depressing. I've always liked Breslow, or more accurately I liked what Breslow represented -- a top-of-the-charts intellect carving out a space for himself in baseball.

Breslow's been through this before. The veteran lefty is in his 12th major league season; he's pitched for seven teams in that time, but this is his second go-around with the Twins, and he had a pair with Boston as well. So he's been passed around like a dollar bill, and he's getting pretty worn -- he hasn't had a sub-4.00 ERA since 2013, when he helped the Red Sox win the World Series.

This might be it for Breslow as a pitcher, although Paul Molitor said he wants to continue his career and the Twins will try to place him with another major league team. He might even accept assignment to Rochester.

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No corresponding move was announced Sunday, but the expectation is that Justin Haley -- remember him? -- will come off the disabled list. The Rule 5 pick was last seen almost two months ago, and his 30-day rehab assignment is to expire Tuesday.

He's tabbed for long relief, but he is stretched out -- he's been starting for Rochester --  and if there's no trade for a starter and if Bartolo Colon washes out, he might get a chance to start. Those are two "ifs," and I doubt the Twins are eager to go that route.

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Speaking of 30-day rehab assignments, the clock started ticking during the weekend on Glen Perkins, who appeared in a Gulf Coast League game. He faced three hitters, striking out two and getting a comebacker to the mound.

The GCL being what it is -- the lowest rung on the organizational ladder -- the results are almost meaningless. More important:

• He was reportedly without pain,
• His velocity topped out at 90.

The first is good, the second less so. I doubt he can pitch effectively in the majors with a 90 mph fastball; changing speeds has never been his forte, and the lack of a usable changeup is part of what drove him to the bullpen.

The timeline is intriguing. If all goes well (that word if again) the Twins would have to bring him off the disabled list in late August, before the expansion of the active roster. Even if Perkins' return is somehow delayed until September, it will require opening a spot on the 40-man roster. There's a lot of time between now and then, to be sure.

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No rehab assignment for Bryon Buxton, in part, it seems, because the Twins will be in Los Angeles today through Wednesday and the travel was deemed excessive. Buxton is eligible to come off the DL Tuesday.

Buxton, incidentally, ranks third on the team in WAR as calculated by Baseball Reference, behind Ervin Santana and Miguel Sano but ahead of Max Kepler and Brandon Kintzler.

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The Twins traded pitcher Nick Tepesch to Toronto on Sunday for "cash considerations." This ranks as an exceedingly minor transaction; he's been on a minor league DL for a while and didn't appear to be in the Twins plans for the rest of the seasons. The "cash considerations" may wind up being dinner at the Winter Meetings.

Draft, Day three: And done

I wondered in the Wednesday post if the Twins had one more overslot draft pick in their plan. Miek Berardino of the Pioneer Press answered that quickly:

Suggestion from #mntwins scouting director Sean Johnson after Day 2 was board had been picked over. Day 3 mostly org guys. Money's spent.

— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) June 14, 2017

"Org guys" being baseball lingo for "players signed so the real prospects have enough teammates to make up a team."

The next step is crucial: Getting all 11 of the players drafted in the first 10 rounds signed to the expected deals. It appears that at least six of the selections are expected to take underslot deals, but the Twins can't afford to have somebody renege on that, a la Kyle Cody. The Twins picked Cody in the second round in 2015, and he opted to return to the University of Kentucky for his senior season instead.

Losing out on Cody wasn't a disaster. Cody wound up going in the sixth round last year, so he probably cost himself a lot of money, and his minor league numbers in the Rangers system are underwhelming. Plus the Twins got the 74th pick in the 2016 draft (prep outfielder Akil Baddoo) to compensate. (Baddoo is apparently waiting for the Appy League season to begin.)

But failing to sign Cody meant the Twins had the slot value of that pick deleted from their draft pool. That was relatively unimportant under Terry Ryan, because the Twins weren't trying to game the bonus pool system. This year they are. So failing to sign a high pick, even one they expect to sign under slot, will damage their entire draft.

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The Twins had 41 picks in total and used 21 of them on pitchers., including 15 on the final day. Thirty-one of their picks were collegians. They won't sign a lot of them, of course. Failure to sign picks after Round 10 don't count against the pool.

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Some minor league roster stuff to update: The Twins retained Drew Rucinski and Nick Tepesch, the two right-handers they recently designated for assignment. But they released Kevin Chapman, the lefty reliever they got from Atlanta for Danny Santana.

And amid all the draft stuff I hadn't noted that Ryan Pressly is back on the major league team, with Alex Wimmers shipped back to Rochester. Dick-n-Bert see Pressly as key to this bullpen, and he does have more of a power reliever's profile than anybody else out there, but really: even last year, his supposed breakout season, he wasn't that good.

The Twins do need a reliable righty to pair with Taylor Rogers in late innings to bridge between the starter/Tyler Duffey and closer Brandon Kintzler. I'm far from convinced Pressly is, or ever was, or will be, that reliable righty.

Another pitching staff shuffle

Another series of roster moves Wednesday for the Twins, none of which involved Randy Rosario:

• Right-handed pitcher Nick Tepesch, who had been on the Triple A disabled list but occupied a spot on the 40-man roster, was released.
• Left-handed pitcher Hector Santiago was placed on the 10-day disabled list and was to return to the Twin Cities to have his throwing shoulder examined. This opened a spot on the 25-man roster.
• Right-handed pitcher Chris Heston was claimed on waivers from the Los Angeles Dodgers. He inherits Tepesch's spot on the 40 and Santiago's spot on the 25 (and presumably Santiago's rotation berth, although I don't know how stretched out he is).

Heston never actually pitched for the Dodgers; they claimed him on waivers from Seattle on May 26 and almost immediately tried to get him through waivers themselves. He did make one three-inning appearance for their Triple A club.

All I really know about Heston is that he spent the 2015 season in the San Francisco rotation, making 31 starts and throwing 177-plus innings with a 12-11 record and 4.15 ERA but also including a no-hitter (June 9 against the Mets in New York). He's 29 and has six major league appearances total the past two seasons.

I'm not counting on much from him. Remember, the Dodgers just picked up Jason Wheeler from the Twins; presumably the Dodgers prefer Wheeler to Heston, and the Twins just jettisoned Wheeler. We are, again, dealing with marginal pitchers.

Notes, quotes and comment

Baseball America over the weekend released Mock Draft 3.5. Why 3.5 rather than 4.0 I don't know. But they kept Kyle Wright, Vanderbilt right hander, as the first overall selection, as "the best combination of upside and modest risk." It's the first time they haven't had a different first pick for the Twins.

EPSN's Keith Law also issued a mock draft (behind a paywall) and had the Twins taking Wright:

I’ve heard that the Twins are in on at least four players at No. 1, including Brendan McKay (as a bat or a two-way guy but not just as a pitcher), Mackenzie Gore and Hunter Greene, but the current betting in the industry is that they will take Wright as the prospect with the best combination of floor and ceiling.

I haven't mentioned Gore in any of my draft posts; he's a high school lefty from North Carolina. My guess is that he would only be the pick if

• He agrees to a sharply below slot contract before the draft and
• The Twins have a plan to use the extra money on later picks.

That approach certainly worked for Houston when the Astros took Carlos Correa 1-1 over Byron Buxton.

Draft begins June 12.

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Nick Tepesch, who had one brief start with the major league club in early May, went on the Triple A disabled list with "elbow impingement." With an ERA at Rochester of 5.59 -- which if anything understates how poor his results have been (six homers in 29 innings) -- it's not like he was on the verge of coming back up, but it's another reason to expect the Twins to leave Kyle Gibson and Adalberto Mejia in the rotation for a while.

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Glen Perkins threw to hitters on Tuesday at Target Field. He threw 23 pitches, all fastballs. Chris Gimenez, one of the hitters to face him, said the velocity was in the mid 80s but saw good movement.

Perkins now returns to Fort Myers to continue his rehab. According to the Mike Berardino piece linked to above, the plan calls for a few more live BP sessions at extended spring training followed by a rehab assignment with the Class A Miracle. That sounds like a timeline for a late July return if everything works perfectly.

Reshaping the rotation

The Twins made the Jose Berrios callup official after Friday's game and optioned Nick Tepesch  back to Triple A.

Tepesch was called up April 25. He sat around until May 6 -- 11 days if I count correctly -- started, didn't get out of the second inning, and hasn't pitched since.

Three weeks, roughly speaking, on the active roster with one appearance. We'll see how long Adam Wilk sits around now.

So ... Berrios starts today. Presumably Hector Santiago starts Sunday, then the Twins are off Monday, and that give Phil Hughes four days of rest going into Tuesday. Ervin Santana Wednesday, Berrios Thursday, Santiago Friday ... so the Twins will need a fifth starter a week from today.

If I had to guess who that will be, I'll predict Kyle Gibson, mainly because I expect the Twins want him back sooner rather than later. That comes with no guarantee, however.

Notes, quotes and comment

Buddy Boshers didn't last long on that callup. He pitched Sunday -- long enough that he wouldn't be available for a day or two -- and was shipped back down Monday. Nick Tepesch was called up, and Ryan O'Rourke was put on the 60-day DL to make room on the 40-man roster.

Tepesch was apparently nearing his opt-out date. He was putting up better numbers than Boshers in Rochester, and he's a better fit for the long man role anyway.

O'Rourke is making little progress with his arm injury and is to get a second opinion today from the Rangers team doctor. The lefty hasn't pitched off a mound in six weeks.

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MLB issued a one-game suspension for Miguel Sano.for his role in Saturday's fracus. He's appealing the suspension, so that's in abbyance.

What frequently happens in these cases is that the Twins and Sano will pick a game that they plan to rest him in anyway and drop the appeal. Reading between the lines, that may not happen this time. They may think they have a legitimate chance to win that appeal.

I do find it amusing that the Twins TV crew seems absolutely intent on ignoring the underlying trigger of the sequence of events: Justin Haley hitting JaCoby Jones in the face with a pitch. Matt Boyd at least kept his pitch below the shoulders.

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Chih-Wei Hu, the Taiwanese righty the Twins signed, then traded as a Class A pitcher to Tampa Bay for Kevin Jepsen in 2015, made his major league debut Monday. I wish him well; I said at the time of the trade that I was lukewarm on it, having already made an emotional investment in Hu after seeing his Low A debut in 2014 while recognizing the Twins need for immediate bullpen help at the time. It was, and remains, a justifiable trade.

The Twins got what they were after in 2015 from Jepsen; he almost got them into the playoffs. He crashed and burned the next year, of course, and he doesn't appear to be in organized ball this year.

Roster not set yet

The Twins didn't set their opening roster Wednesday, They did trim two more pitchers, Alex Wimmers and Nick Tepesch, both non-roster invitees.

Twins bullpen will be Brandon Kintzler, Ryan Pressly, Taylor Rogers, Matt Belisle, Craig Breslow, Michael Tonkin and Justin Haley.

— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) March 29, 2017

I'm not impressed, but all bullpens are in a state of flux. There will be changes. 

Molitor has told relievers not to expect roles that will be "overly definitive ... we've got some idea how it's going to play out."

— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) March 29, 2017

Not really sure what that means. It's a lot easier to determine the roles with this collection than it was last year, when Tonkin was jammed into a long-relief role that never fit his skill set. Rule-5 pick Haley fits that role. 

Anyway ...

There remain a few "battles" to be decided: DH (it will be ByungHo Park, not Kennys Vargas), backup catcher (it will be Chris Gimenez, not John Ryan Murphy) and fifth starter (where the conventional wisdom has Tyler Duffey beating out Aldaberto Mejia, although I'm not so sure about that). Supposedly those announcements will come today.

I suspect one holdup is how to clear spots on the 40 man roster for Park and Gimenez. One can be gotten by putting Glen Perkins on the 60-day disabled list. The other will require releasing or waiving somebody, and which somebody may be a point of internal disputation.

From a litle birdie ...

A few Tuesday tweets of note about the Twins:

Twins add pair of veteran righthanders with MLB experience -- Ryan Volgelsong and Nick Tepesch -- to spring roster. https://t.co/Iz7TpIlGsH

— Phil Miller (@MillerStrib) January 11, 2017

Not much to see here, I suspect, even if Ryan Vogelsong is a former All-Star. That was back in 2011, when he suddenly emerged as an effective starter with the Giants at age 33. He's 39 now and hasn't good since 2012. Nick Tepesch lacks Vogelsong's track record but is more than a decade younger. He had the same surgery that Phil Hughes is coming back from two years ago.

They'll both be in camp as non-roster invitees. I don't expect much.

Sources: Free-agent infielder Trevor Plouffe to Athletics. Agreement in place. Deal pending a physical.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 11, 2017

When the Twins non-tendered Plouffe early in the offseason, it was said that the veteran third baseman was being given the benefit of an early start on free agency. That it took him well into January to find a landing place suggests that he didn't have much of a market.

I don't know that I would play Plouffe over Ryon Healy at third base, or over Yonder Alonzo or Mark Canha at first. But the A's found more than 500 at-bats for the now-departed Danny Valencia last year. Odd, isn't it, that Plouffe took Valencia's spot when the Twins moved on from him at third base in 2012.

Sources: #Twins, #Dodgers at impasse on Dozier. No momentum toward deal. 1/2

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 10, 2017

It only takes one phone call to agree to a trade, but I now doubt that Dozier will be dealt this winter. The Twins apparently aren't finding the return they think (and I think) they deserve for him. I gave some reasons why about a week ago.